The sky cracked as Kiro charged toward Sulfur, Blood Venom in hand, its tendrils of crimson energy coiling like serpents thirsty for divine blood. But just before he could strike, a second voice erupted from the imperial relay towers—sharp, laced with desperation.
"Executor Sulfur, this is Baron Voneto—worldholder of Gaeth-9!" the voice rang out across the burning city. "You are destroying imperial mining property. I demand you cease immediately!"
High above the battlefield, a Kargal projection shimmered into existence—a tall, robed man with gaunt features and deep, imperial insignias across his chest. Baron Voneto's face was twisted with fury, but underneath it… fear.
Sulfur turned his golden gaze skyward without expression, his voice like rolling thunder.
"Gaeth-9 is no longer your concern, Baron."
Voneto's eyes widened.
"What—what are you saying?"
Sulfur raised a hand toward the still-glowing remnants of a destroyed moon, its fragments burning through the atmosphere like falling angels.
"By decree of the Kargal High Conclave, the failure to eliminate the Blood Apostle has been deemed a violation of strategic imperial interests. Effective immediately, stewardship of Gaeth-9 is revoked from House Voneto…"
He turned slightly, his Viora aura pulsing with dominance, and finished the sentence with a quiet, final tone:
"…and granted to House Vanta."
Voneto gasped as the transmission shimmered, breaking into static.
A moment of silence followed. Then, the imperial banners fluttering in the city shifted color—from Voneto's rust-red sigils to the abyssal black-and-silver of House Vanta, the most feared faction in the Kargal Empire—known for their use of experimental technology and absolute loyalty to the Source Seed gods.
Kiro stood frozen, not out of fear, but instinct. Something was wrong. The System was surging.
[WARNING]
Atomic-level anomaly detected.
Core Evolution blocked by external command.
Emergency Protocol: Dimensional Exit.
The words flared across his vision in blood-red light.
"No—" Kiro growled, trying to resist, his hands shaking as Blood Venom dissolved into raw energy.
Sulfur turned toward him, tilting his head slightly in amused curiosity.
"Running already, Blood Apostle? Or is your System wise enough to know its limits?"
Before Kiro could respond, the ground beneath him split open in a storm of crimson runes. His body was torn from space, his core still glowing, mid-transformation.
The city vanished in a flash.
When Kiro's vision cleared, he collapsed into mud.
Not snow, not ash—mud.
A low hum buzzed in the air, an unnatural silence lingering beneath it. He staggered up, his blood still burning, his soul aching from the interrupted evolution.
Around him stretched fields of broken towers and smoking craters. Massive drills burrowed into the ground, guarded by patrol drones and Viora-clad sentries. In the distance, he saw chained figures moving like ghosts—slaves. Children, elders, men and women—all wearing the red-marked collars of submission.
A banner flapped above the highest platform. A silver serpent curling around a burning sun.
House El'Vertigos.
The Kruger-aligned noble house that once ruled the trade routes of the Velmorian Sector.
And now, they ruled Velmora, Kiro's homeworld.
He fell to one knee, not from pain, but from what he saw: his people—his planet—reduced to a husk. Enslaved by the empire that once used Gaeth-9 as a dumping ground.
His eyes burned.
[NEW OBJECTIVE RECEIVED]
Reclaim Velmora. Awaken the Lost Cores of Blood and Ash.
Kiro rose slowly, the ground beneath his feet beginning to turn red.
All around him, the wind howled with the cries of the enslaved.
He looked up at the silver serpent banner of House El'Vertigos, fluttering above rusted towers and broken dreams.
"Then let them come," he whispered.
His blood pulsed.
His war was not over.